st malo

Sunday morning we drove a very sleepy bus load of students back to St. Malo, where we had a very interesting walking tour. St. Malo is now mostly known as a seaside resort, but it played a large role in pirate wars of the 17th century. It has always had a very strong regional identity; it's motto is, "Malois, always; Breton, maybe; French, if there's anything left." (Malois = being from St. Malo; Breton = being from Brittany) It was granted the right to be an independent city in the 17th century by Henry IV, the "Protestant King", because the Malois successfully revolted against having a non-Catholic king. St. Malo (my pictures now):



It is an old, walled city that like Mont St. Michel used to be an island at high tide. It was very rich from its sea-related industry and was often raided by English pirates/privateers. As a result many castles were built in the ocean around the city. One is fairly close, and you can walk there during low tide. Here is the difference between high and low tide (33 ft the day we were there!):


During low tide I climbed up those rocks on the side to get to the castle. It's privately owned, though, and you can't go in. The beach was gorgeous and the sand had a pretty pattern because the tide went out so quickly.

After visiting the beach I went back to town to check out the cathedral. Most of St. Malo was destroyed during WWII because the Allies bombed it during the Liberation, but many stones remained intact. They rebuilt the city using the original materials and based off of original designs. The cathedral was half-destroyed, so a lot of it is modern. The stained glass is all new and very colorful; the sun was setting while I was there so the colors shone very strongly in the cathedral itself.


Jacques Cartier was from St. Malo and is buried in the cathedral (although most of his skeleton was lost during the bombing and only his skull is in there now).

The city itself was very friendly and interesting. There were also the castle of the town itself, which we could not go in, and a carnival going on outside the city walls when the tide went down. Now there is an artificial harbor and the city is never completely disconnected from the mainland, but all the social life there revolves around the tides. The streets also have fun names like "Rue de la Chat qui Danse" (Dancing Cat St) or Fat Calf St. They're big on incorporating historic quotes into everyday life. Actually, the whole atmosphere there is based on being independent; the Malois, and really Bretons in general, don't really consider themselves French as other French people do. They are loyal to France, and don't go along with any other nation, but they are most distinctly Breton.